Folding fire-escape ladder



April 1943. c. J. HILLENBRAND 2,317,459

FOLDING FIRE-ES CAPE LADDER Filed April 22, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet lINVENTQR Cal'l JHi/lenbrahd April 1943- c. J. HILLENBRAND 7,

. FOLDING, FIRE-ESCAPE LADDER Filed April 22, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l 3.

. VJ 1zr INVENTOR Carl J. Hil/en brand Patented Apr. 27, 1943 UNITEDSTATES PATENT ()FFlCE FOLDING FIRE-ESCAPE LADDER Carl J. Hillenbrand,Pittsburgh, Pa.

Application April 22, 1941, Serial No. 389,723

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a safety ladder adapted to be installed inresidences to permit safe egress of the occupants from the upper floorsin case of fire and, in particular, to a fire escape of the foldingladder type.

Numerous devices have been proposed heretofore to permit occupants ofdwelling houses to descend in safety from the upper floors thereof incase a fire prevents use of the stairway. For various reasons, however,none of these devices, so far as I am aware, has been used to anyextent. I have invented a novel form of folding fire-escape ladder whichis compact enough to be stowed in a small space but is strong enoughwhen unfolded to permit anyone to descend safely to the ground from thewindow of an upper floor of a house or other building.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, I provide a plurality ofladder sections, each comprising spaced side rails and a tread barextending transversely therebetween. The ladder sections are hingedtogether end to end in such fashion that they may be folded fiat againsteach other. By this construction, a ladder of considerable length whenfolded, occupies but a relatively small space. The ladder is preferablykept in a suitable cabinet under a bedroom window, for example. In caseof fire, the occupant of the room has merely to open the cabinet inwhich the ladder is kept and throw it out of the window, whereupon itunfolds automatically, the upper end being permanently secured to thebuilding, preferably inside the cabinet.

Further novel features and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent during the following detailed description which refers to theaccompanying drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment. In thedrawings:

Figure 1 is a partial section through the wall of a dwelling showing thedevice of my invention suspended therefrom in position for use;

Figure 2 is a partial elevation of the inner surface of the buildingwall showing the cabinet in which the ladder is kept when not in use;

Figure 3 is an elevation showing the ladder sections extended inposition for use;

Figure 4 is a side elevation showing the ladder sections foldedtogether; Figure 5 is a partial elevation of one of the side rails of aladder section, showing a spacing finger pivoted thereto;

Figure 6 is a side elevation of the parts shown in Figure 5;

Figure '7 is a partial elevation of the upper end of the ladder;

Figure 8 is a sectional view along the line VIIIVIII of Figure '7 Figure9 is a partial elevation showing a side rail and one end of the treadbar secured thereto;

Figure 1G is a sectional view taken along the line XX of Figure 9;

Figure 11 is an elevation of the hinge joint connecting adjacent laddersections; and

Figure 12 is a sectional View taken along the line XII-XII of Figure 11.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, my invention comprises a ladderit made up of a plurality of sections 1 l connected by hinge joints E2.The ladder may be made in any convenient length depending on thebuilding in which it is installed, but ordinarily is of a lengthsufiicient to reach from the second floor window sill of an averagedwelling to a point adjacent the ground. The individual sections H mayalso be of any suitable length, but are preferably short enough to bestowed vertically below a window sill. The ladder sections mayconveniently have a length twice the spacing between adjacent tread barshereinafter described.

As illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the ladder of my invention is adaptedto be disposed in a storage cabinet i3 located adjacent a window M in abuilding, one wall of which is indicated at 15 and the floors at Hi andH. The cabinet has doors l8 and a hinged lid I9 whereby the ladder, whenfolded as illustrated in Figure 4, may readily be thrown out the windowwhereupon it automatically unfolds by gravity into condition forimmediate use, as illustrated in Figure 1. When in this position, theladder is suspended by chains 28, one end of each of which is secured toa screw eye 2!. The other end of each chain is secured to the top of theladder in any convenient manner.

Referring now more particularly to Figures 3 through 12, each section Ii of the ladder I0 comprises spaced side rails 22 and a tread bar 23extending from one side rail to the other and rigidly secured thereto asby rivets 24. The top and bottom sections H have additional tread bars25 secured to the upper and lower ends thereof respectively. The siderails 22 are preferably flat bars of light metal such as aluminum havinga width several times their thickness and disposed with their width inthe general plane of the ladder section. The tread bars 23 and 25 are ofangle section as shown in Figures 8 and 10, each having a horizontalflange and a vertical flange. The vertical flange is secured flat-wiseagainst the side rails 22, the horizontal flange being notched at theends of the bar to permit this.

The side rails of the top section H may conveniently have slots 26therein to receive the ends of the supporting chains 20..

The lower ends of the side rails 22 (except those of the bottom laddersection) are notched and bent back on themselves forming spaced eyes 21.The upper ends of the side rails (except those of the top laddersection) are cut away and similarly bent back, forming eyes 28 adaptedto fit between the spaced eyes 27. A hinge rod 29 ex tends through thealined eyes 2! and 28 of adjacent ladder sections. The rod may have ahead at one end and a hole drilled through the other end to receive acotter pin. Instead of a solid rod 29, however, I may use a tubular rod.In any event, the rod serves a dual purpose. In the first place, itprovides a pivotal connection between adjacent ladder sections. In thesecond place, th hinge rod serves as a tread bar, in the same manner asthe bars 23 and 25.

It will be apparent that the construction thus far described permits theladder sections to be folded flat against each other as shown in Figure51 so as to require a minimum of storage space.

I also provide means for preventing the ladder, when suspended, fromswinging so close to the building wall as to make it difiicult for theuser to secure a footing on the tread bars While de scending the ladder.For this purpose, I employ spacing fingers 30 positioned at suitableintervals along the length of the ladder. The fingers 38 are preferablypivoted on pins 3| extending across slots 32 formed in the side rails22. The fingers 30 normally lie flat against the side rails as shown inFigure 6. When the ladder is in use, however, the fingers fall bygravity to the position shown in chain lines in Figure 6 so as to engage the building wall as shown in Figure 1 and prevent the ladder fromswinging close to the wall under the weight of a person descending theladder, which might make it difiicult for him to descend in safety. Inorder to accommodate the fingers 30 in their folded position, the siderails 22 of adjacent ladder sections are displaced slightly from theiroriginal plane as shown at 33. This provides a pocket to receive thefingers so that the latter do not increase the overall thickness of theladder when folded.

The manner of using the ladder of my invention requires little or noadditional explanation. As already stated, the ladder is normally infolded position as shown in Figure 4 and is disposed in the storagecabinet l3. It will be understood, of course, that the supporting chains20 are permanently connected to the ladder and to the screw eye 2| orother suitable form of anchorage so that it is unnecessary for the user,in case of emergency, to make any connections or adjustments. In case afire develops which makes egress by the stairs dangerous or impossible,it is only necessary for an occupant on the upper floor of a house toopen the cabinet and throw the ladder out of the window. This is asimple matter and within the physical capacity of even a small childbecause of the relatively light weight of the ladder which results fromthe use of a strong light metal such as aluminum or its alloys in theconstruction of the ladder sections and other parts. When the ladder hasbeen thrown out, it unfolds automatically and immediately assumes thesuspended position shown in Figure l, whereupon the occupant may descendin safety to the ground.

It will be apparent that the invention is characterized by numerousadvantages over folding fire-escape ladders as previously known. Many ofthese advantages have already been mentioned. In sum, I have provided astrong, light-weight ladder which is relatively inexpensive and isfoolproof in operation. It requires but a small storage space and whenonce installed, is immediately accessible at any time upon theoccurrence of an emergency, without requiring any upkeep or maintenance.The parts of the ladder are not subject to deterioration and the deviceis always ready for use even though it has remained unused for a longperiod.

Although I have illustrated and described but a preferred form of theinvention, it will be recognized that changes in the design orarrangement may be made without departin from the spirit of theinvention or the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

In a fire escape ladder, a plurality of sections each including a pairof flat side rails having a width several times their thickness, spacedapart With their greater dimension lying in a common plane, and a treadbar extending transversely from one rail to the other with its endsengaging the rails fiatwise and secured thereto, said sections beingdisposed end to end, and hinged together, certain of said sectionshaving fiat spacing fingers disposed parallel to the side rails thereof,pivoted thereto and adapted to swing by gravity to extended position soas to engage a wall to space the ladder therefrom when it is suspendedalongside the wall, the side rails of the sections adjacent those havingthe spacing fingers pivoted thereto, being displaced out of said planein a direction normal to the Width of the rails providing spaces forsaid fingers between adjacent sections when folded so the rails thereoflie fiatwise together.

CARL J. HILLENBRAND.

